Jasmine had a very bad infection that required medical attention at the e-vet the other night.She was put on Clavamox and Tramadol after her wound was drained and cleaned out. She's had barely any appetite at all this week. I was hoping that once the infection started to clear and she felt better (which I can tell she DOES feel better) that her appetite would return. However, it doesn't seem like it has very much.

I know other pain meds can have "loss of appetite" as a side effect. Anyone have experience with this?

She's really only been on the pain meds for a day and a half. 2-3 a day as needed. She did need one this morning, so I gave one to her early and Phil gave her one midday. I think maybe I'll give her another one before bed and then tomorrow we'll reassess and see if we should cut back. Thanks!

Make sure you give her some food with both medications so her tummy doesn't get upset. I give Kodi turkey when he gets medicine, especially Clavamox. Mainly because it's the only thing I can get in him when he doesn't feel well. Try giving her some food and see if that helps. Make sure you don't cut back to soon, but you could always do 1/2 a tablet.

If you've ever taken Augmentin, it's the same medicine. It can do a number on your stomach!

KatKodi- Mini PoodleMia Puppy - Standard Poodle

If you ever doubt your own beauty, look into your dogs eyes and see for yourself what they see in you.

Thank you. I will be sure to entice her with something especially yummy. She won't even really eat canned food (which is usually her favorite). She licked her food a couple times this morning just to make me happy, I think. She did eat a few bites for Phil during the day and then she ate a bit at dinner time.

maybe try some boiled chicken and rice? Often that is the ticket to enticing a dog...

I agree with giving the meds with food. Antibiotics alone can make Oscar have way less of an appetite or if given on an empty stomach, I've seen him vomit from them

what else could you try...

mix a little apple juice in with some food (kibble, canned food, the chicken and rice), Oscar LOoooves apple juice. I'll put a tablespoon of it in his water to encourage him to drink.

Did you try heating up the canned food? Often that can make it more pallitable.

No sodium chicken broth on or mixed in with her food may also work.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

Thanks for the suggestions. I had been mixing her kibble with canned food and warm water, but that's not good enough. I will try warming the food in the morning and see if she likes that. Otherwise, rice and chicken will be next. She ate her pills with a couple of pieces of bread with peanut butter tonight.

She did get up and chase Sidney around a little while ago, so that's a good sign. I want to make sure she's getting up and moving around and not just laying around getting stiff all day.

Tramadol is a common drug for recovery from amputation. Unfortunately, judging from my 'Tripawds' family, many of the dogs do not tolerate it well. Reactions can be anywhere from loss of appetite to what they refer to as seeing pink elephants - meaning it isn't uncommon for them to cry out and vocalize when taking it.

We've been lucky with Trouble, I keep a supply on hand, so when she seems a little stiff or has taken a tumble, I can give it to her to take the edge off.

You may try hand feeding yummy food until you are able to take Jasmine off the meds.

I knew Trouble was prescribed Tramadol, and I was hoping you'd chime in.

No go on the warm canned food this morning. I tried oatmeal too, as that's what I had on hand. No luck.She would eat bread from me and after a little coaxing, took some cheese. I have to go out and get some chicken today to try with rice.

Thankfully she doesn't seem to be vocalizing at all. Just no appetite and she seems a bit slower than normal.

Her wound was still seeping a bit last night but looked drier this morning. Seems to be closing up a bit too.

Is there another drug she could have instead? With Katy, the tramadol was never quite enough to help with her arthritis pain (even in addition to Metacam), so we switched her to gabapentin and that's been a godsend for her -- no appetite problems, no nauseau, no real side effects. The tramadol worked well for Indy after his cancer surgery, but you could tell he was definitely seeing pink elephants, LOL.

When we were using the tramadol for Katy, Dr Blabs recommended giving her sulcrafate about a half-hour/hour before the tramadol. Katy would sometimes vomit up the tramadol (didn't stop her from eating, though, the piglet), but the sulcrafate really helped her tummy tolerate the tramadol.

Never make someone a priority in your life when that someone treats you like an option.

YES... YES IT DOES. I hate when doctors give it to most of my people patients. It does have some uses in controlling mild to moderate pain for short periods of time. It isn't super effective, and comes with its side effects.

Just my two cents ...

KatKodi- Mini PoodleMia Puppy - Standard Poodle

If you ever doubt your own beauty, look into your dogs eyes and see for yourself what they see in you.

No go on the warm canned food this morning. I tried oatmeal too, as that's what I had on hand. No luck.She would eat bread from me and after a little coaxing, took some cheese. I have to go out and get some chicken today to try with rice.

Just as an 'in case', you might grab a couple of jars of baby food while you are out. When Trouble wouldn't /couldn't eat when she was sick once, she ate baby food and loved it.

Yes, she is drinking water. I don't think I mentioned that. We have water bowls set around the house so she's never very far from one. The dogs are kind of being rotated/shifted right now, so she doesn't have free roam of the house, but there are bowls wherever she may be.

I could definitely ask the vet for different meds on Monday if things don't look up by then. I hope she's feeling well enough that she no longer needs them.

I was giving the meds together. Never thought of trying to split them up during the day. Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm going to cut back on the tramadol today and see how that goes. I feel encouraged that she did want to run around a little in the yard last night.

Come to think of it, I was given tramadol a while back (don't remember what it was for) but I just stopped taking it because I didn't like it. Durrr.... Last time my own vet prescribed pain meds for her it was Novox. The E-vet is the one who gave the tramadol. My own vet was fine with the meds but disagreed with the E-vets other recommendations.

haven't seen so many dogs with pink elephant cases after the orthopedic surgeries at work, though... maybe cause they're just in so much pain anyway, they're kind of shut down. Fentanyl drips, on the other hand... a pom was rolling in his cage and play bowing at nothing last week. he was sooo high, ...

In my experience Tramadol has always been tolerated pretty well. We send it home with our spay/neuter patients and I've given it to my own dog who had a broken elbow a year ago and he's never acted differently on it. It isn't a really hardcore pain medication it isn't one recommended for joint pain because it doesn't really work. I've never seen a dog act high on Tramadol but maybe different vets dose it higher than we do

Has your dog ever had tramadol and reacted like this? Has your dog ever been on the clavamox?

I would look at the antibiotics as being a main cause. One of the gal's I work with - her dog cannot tolerate clavamox or cephalexin it makes her go off of her food and she feels poopy. In the future, whether you figure out if it's the tramadol or the antibiotic I would mention that your dog went off of her food while on the two drugs, they might send home a different antibiotic in the future.

ParisStreetPitCrew wrote:Jasmine had a very bad infection that required medical attention at the e-vet the other night.She was put on Clavamox and Tramadol after her wound was drained and cleaned out. She's had barely any appetite at all this week. I was hoping that once the infection started to clear and she felt better (which I can tell she DOES feel better) that her appetite would return. However, it doesn't seem like it has very much.

I know other pain meds can have "loss of appetite" as a side effect. Anyone have experience with this?

Both medicines can cause nausea so its a sticky situation, if she won't eat, she has an empty tummy and you give meds, its stays the same. I always try to be sure the dog is eating somethign, even extra special food, before I give the meds to avoid this spiral.

If it continues stop both meds and try again in 24 hours. IF still no different, it could be a resistant infection and she may still have a fever, making her feel yucky. May need another antibiotic!

Ryder - Rescue APBT Panser on a Roll - APBT (American Bully?)Gretchen - the red headed cat that thinks shes a dogPrudence - the new cat on the block to put the dogs in their place!Punchlines Better Than Lojac - APBT (RIP)

Yeah, when I worked at the Animal Hospital I didn't see a lot of issues with Tramadol, either. Any strong pain meds are likely to make an animal high every now and then, because they are strong pain medication

Its also my feeling in cases where the animal is acting "high" or narcotized, that it's not necessarily that the medication isn't doing what its supposed to but the dose may be a little off - often a decrease in dose even by 1/4 will take away the odd behavior and looks.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
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"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07